John Hoskyns Poems

Poems » john hoskyns

John Hoskyns
Sir John Hoskyns (born August 1927) is best known as an Policy Advisor to Margaret Thatcher while head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit from May 1979 and April 1982. Prior to this he acted as a Policy Adviser to her and the Shadow Cabinet from 1975-79, during which time he produced the important "Stepping Stones" report of November 1977. He was educated at Winchester College before serving as a regular soldier in the Rifle Brigade (1945-57). He then started a business career at IBM UK Ltd (1957-64), before founding the Hoskyns Group Ltd where he was Chairman and Managing Director (1964-75). He was Director-General of the Institute of Directors (1984-89), and served on the boards of a number of public companies. Without any political experience, he dedicated a year to analysing what he considered to be wrong with the UK, putting this down in a diagram that showed how all these problems were interlinked. When Margaret Thatcher saw this diagram, having studied chemistry, she remarked it looked like a chemical plant. He was knighted in 1982 and published a memoir, "Just in time, inside the Thatcher revolution" in 2000.

a shropshire lad xxx: others, i am not the first
 
 
Others, I am not the first,
Have willed more mischief than they durst:
If in the breathles... [read poem]
the man in the moon came down too soon
 
 
There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so... [read poem]
the world was young, the mountains green
 
 
The world was young, the mountains green,
No stain yet on the Moon was seen,
No words were... [read poem]
troll sat alone on his seat of stone
 
 
Troll sat alone on his seat of stone,
And munched and mumbled a bare old bone;
For many a ... [read poem]
a shropshire lad ii: loveliest of trees, the cherry now
 
 
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about th... [read poem]
lament for eorl the young
 
 
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and th... [read poem]
a shropshire lad lxii: "terence, this is stupid stuff
 
 
"Terence, this is stupid stuff:
You eat your victuals fast enough;
There can't be much ami... [read poem]
absence, hear thou my protestation
 
 
Absence, hear thou my protestation
Against thy strength,
Distance an... [read poem]
a shropshire lad i: from clee to heaven the beacon burns
 
 
From Clee to heaven the beacon burns,
The shires have seen it plain,
From north and so... [read poem]
a shropshire lad xxxi: on wenlock edge the wood's in trouble
 
 
On Wenlock Edge the wood's in trouble;
His forest fleece the Wrekin heaves;
The gale, ... [read poem]
a shropshire lad xix: the time you won your town the race
 
 
The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy s... [read poem]
lament for boromir
 
 
Through Rohan over fen and field where the long grass grows
The West Wind comes walking, and ab... [read poem]
bregalad's lament
 
 
O Orofarnë, Lassemista, Carnimírië!
O rowan fair, upon your hair how white the blossom lay!... [read poem]
bilbo's last song
 
 
Day is ended, dim my eyes,
but journey long before me lies.
Farewell, friends! I hear the ... [read poem]
he chanted a song of wizardry
 
 
He chanted a song of wizardry,
Of piercing, opening, of treachery,
Revealing, uncovering, ... [read poem]
a shropshire lad xxxv: on the idle hill of summer
 
 
On the idle hill of summer,
Sleepy with the flow of streams,
Far I hear the steady dru... [read poem]
a shropshire lad xii: when i watch the living meet
 
 
When I watch the living meet,
And the moving pageant file
Warm and breathing through t... [read poem]
eärendil was a mariner
 
 
Eärendil was a mariner
that tarried in Arvernien;
he built a boat of timber felled
in... [read poem]
Continue in A. E. Housman »»»

Page 1 of 1